Caden Luke

Posted on June 25, 2018 by HALEY MILES

Caden really has a sweet and fun personality. He is just easy going and a happy little guy. He is really enjoying his preschool and seriously loves his teacher. She is a special lady. I’m so thankful how patient and loving she is towards the kids.

One morning, before I had even made it home from the market after taking the kids to school, Caden’s teacher called me and said he had had an accident at school. Another child had pulled a toy shelf over and Caden was sitting right in the “wrong spot.” It had hit him in the corner of his lip and cut it open. It must have bled a lot because that is what I heard from the other people present. She brought him to the hospital and we knew it needed stitches. Remember, last year in May Caden cut his head open and we had to take a high-speed train to Guangzhou to get it glued because I was afraid of the stitches at a local hospital. Here we go again. . . when we went to the hospital they mentioned there WAS another hospital who has glue now! So, we went to the other hospital and they were able to glue it closed. Whew! I was so thankful. Sweet little boy didn’t even cry. He did stay home for the rest of week, but his teacher still came to visit. She felt so badly. Thankful for so many things in this situation.

Colt’s Class Built a Sundial

Posted on June 2, 2018 by HALEY MILES

Colt’s class has a required “building project” to complete this year. If you remember, last year was planting, tending, and harvesting rice. Each year is a sort of “life skill” class. His teacher planned for them to build a little house with a sundial on top there on the school grounds. They worked for several weeks from 2pm to 6:30pm every day. . . getting home at 7pm for a late dinner and still some homework/homeschool with mom. I’m proud of him because not once did he complain. He seemed to enjoy every minute of it! They started from laying the foundation, to moving the bricks, mixing the mortar, and all the way to the finished project. I don’t have a picture of the sundial on top yet (I actually haven’t seen the big reveal yet). Pretty neat experience, and I’m very thankful for his teacher and this school environment.

Cooking Over an Open Fire

Posted on May 31, 2018 by HALEY MILES

We love the outdoors and cooking over a fire, but this was a first for us. What a treat! We went with a friend and some kids from Colt’s class. I’ll let you know how just in case you want to try We built the fire and surrounded it with blocks, then placed the iron wok on top. First we threw in some fresh meat from the market (which had a good bit of fat attached). This provided natural oil and good flavor. Then added water. Let the meat boil for a while and added tofu, peas, mushrooms, and greens. It was actually quite tasty! Salt to taste. Our chopsticks were carved from bamboo found nearby.

Berries and Plants – some of my favorite things

Posted on May 16, 2018 by HALEY MILES

I have turned into a plant lover. Maybe it’s apartment living and the lack of a yard/greenery, but my balcony has become a little flower garden (as I so affectionately call it) over this past year. Really, I don’t have a natural green thumb. I’ve killed quite a few flowers while learning along the way. I now understand the amount of sunlight that hits our balcony and tend to buy heartier plants I’m buying plants that I don’t know how to say in English and learning how to care for them in a foreign language. I blame that for the ones that died – haha.

Well, one day recently, a friend asked if we wanted to go wild berry picking. It had been raining a lot and D was sick, so it would be a challenge . . . but given the circumstances, I’d rather take the kids outside than be cooped up inside. So, we put on the rainboots and raincoats and headed out. Thankfully, it didn’t rain anymore and we picked a bucket full of berries (which most closely resembled rasberries to me) while eating along the way. Only a handful reserved for D was brought home though. No jam to be made. We also found some special leaf that is supposedly really good for you, rare and expensive that we took back and cooked for lunch. We also got to go to this beautiful flower garden. It was my favorite place ever! Of course we bought some more plants for our balcony I didn’t know that was in store, what a treat! The kids share the same love for nature and plants so they were just as thrilled as I was!

Tomb Sweeping Festival

Posted on May 16, 2018 by HALEY MILES

Qingming Festival–Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day–and Easter fell nearly on the same weekend. While many around the world were celebrating an empty tomb many in China were remembering their dead and caring for tombs still filled with bones.

On this holiday Chinese traditionally return home to tend the graves of deceased relatives. Food and flowers are placed before the gravesites and various paper items such as money, cell phones and clothing are burned as a means to send gifts to the dead. For those unable to return home for the holiday, public sidewalks and traffic intersections serve as a kind of temporary graveyard.

Our family has passed group after group of people bowing down to burning piles of paper. The contrast between the hopelessness of death and the hope of what we had just celebrated had never seemed so great. I wondered how many people across China were commemorating the dead in the same way.

Spring Festival At School

Posted on April 6, 2018 by HALEY MILES

This kids’ school had a spring festival to “welcome spring.” We were all supposed to wear traditional clothes. Colt’s class did a recitation. They had some guys that did an amazing job at lion dancing (can see in the picture below) too! Other activities included tea, calligraphy, music, games . . . it was a lot of fun. You can also see the pics below during a short ceremony where they also “reinacted” a traditional ceremony to the gods for good spring rains and good crops.

Spring Is Here!

Posted on April 4, 2018 by HALEY MILES

Some friends invited us to go see the beautiful spring flowers and also go to a village home for a meal. It was a lovely day and the flowers really were beautiful! The meal was quite fun too! We got to pick out a live chicken and duck, and the kids found it quite fascinating to watch the entire process of catching it to cooking it and on to the table. Needless to say, it was quite educational. We had chicken soup (the whole chicken – nothing wasted), stir fried duck and and an egg dish. It was yummy by the way!

This little piggie went to market. . . no really he did.

Posted on March 28, 2018 by HALEY MILES

We stumbled upon some pig farmers and a very “fresh” litter of little pigs. Our kids seriously would love to live on a farm. They tell me that at least once a week. I wish I could make it happen. We are pretty close though, they do get to see a lot

Outside. . .

Posted on March 15, 2018 by HALEY MILES

I saw it’s been snowing in my hometown of WV. Here, on the other hand, we have been enjoying 60-70 degree temps and getting outdoors. We love to be outdoors! Maybe it’s the fact that apartment living isn’t super fun to have all 5 of us indoors, though we have been enjoying board games now in this age and stage! It’s good for the soul to be outdoors anyway

Chinese New Year Festivities

Posted on March 14, 2018 by HALEY MILES

In the past, we have had meetings or visa runs and been out of the country during the “lively” part of this two week holiday. This year, we were able to stick around and really enjoy it with our local friends. LOTS (and I mean LOTS) of fireworks and firecrackers during the day and seemingly all times of the night. Lots of food and eating. Lots of just people being together and taking a break from work (which meant the streets and shops were closed and must quieter). It was fun.